Mako bad for landings? In my experience the rocker really helps with the landing as compared to other boards. It's not possible to land flat because there is no flat part of the board.

I have the 140 and the king. The king is definitely harder on landing, but it's a huge board, there's not much you can do about that. The Mako King lands much softer than a door style big board though.

As people have suggested, something with a lot of flex and good rocker. Nobile NHP has bags of rocker and flex, not so great for huge pop, but good for general riding in choppy conditions and softer landings. You can also adjust the angle of the pads as well, which may help you a little. I got mine for similar reasons. They describe it as medium to stiff flex, but it seems pretty flexible to me,

You could also consider the T5, I haven't tried it, but I think it has an even softer flex pattern than the NHP.

I'm also mostly a surfboard rider who occasionally enjoys a few jumping days. My knees are also shot so I all my boards must be as flexible as possible. The epoxy kitesurf boards I've tried are all too hard and stiff for me so I ride a couple of PU surfboards strapless. I went through a lot of twin tip testing (north,cab,best,naish and a few custom local boards) before I found a tt which had the flex I was looking for, the underground flx. I've been riding them for the past two years. They're also great on the waves as they flex quite a bit through the turns so do not slide out like the boards with too much rocker. I have not tried the crazyfly or shinn boards but would also be keen to give them a go.

how hard you're coming down plays a factor too,but get any board that has some good flex and get some very high end foot pad,between the flex of the board and some really nice soft foot pads it's going to adsorb all of the shock from landing plus choppy water

if your knees are sore from mowing the lawn in choppy water then you need to consider a softer flex board with more concave like a mako.

If your knees are sore from hard landings from big jumps, kiteloops and load and pop tricks then you need a stiffer high rockered board.

Judging by your original post it sounds like the latter is what is causing problems for you. I recommend finding a good stiff wakestyle board like the cab custom or tona pop. If you don't want something quite that aggressive then maybe consider the North Gambler or Cabrinha Caliber.

Mark.
Make sure to try the Shinn Monk, I'm in your age bracket with arthritic knees/foot, I have the original Monk (Ape graphic) best board I've had for knees so far, footpads are nice n comfy too.... just like old mans slippers
I've heard the latest incarnation is a little stiffer but haven't tried it yet.
Good luck with the search.
Wider stance will help soften the landings too.

tonyh wrote:Mark.
Make sure to try the Shinn Monk, I'm in your age bracket with arthritic knees/foot, I have the original Monk (Ape graphic) best board I've had for knees so far, footpads are nice n comfy too.... just like old mans slippers
I've heard the latest incarnation is a little stiffer but haven't tried it yet.
Good luck with the search.
Wider stance will help soften the landings too.

Yeh I have the same board and vouch for their landings and general riding. Just enough flex, but not too much, so you can still pop. The footpads are extremely soft and have that memeory foam stuff. You can ride this board all day for some reason. Even my back roll back loops can be relatively forgiving on the monk.

Mark- If you have old 'n' broken body parts, I suggest you get them replaced first!!!
My whole body will be 54 years old in about six weeks...except for the parts that have been repaired or replaced..some of those parts are fairly new and might still be under warranty!!!

A friend of mine, who was a professional Jetski racer and then did a lot of Motocross, is getting both hips replaced next week....he will be walking like a new man by St. Patricks Day.

My legs like the ride of a Mako 150 in chop but it's a bit hard to get any good boost from.
The Wainman Blunt/SU-2 ProRider 135 is very, very good in chop and lands sent jumps softly.
The Shinn Luigi was very good as well.
The Shinn Monk is the smoothest chop board I've ever been on and the landings are pretty good as well.
The Wainman Joke has a reputation as a very smooth chop board that has butter soft landings.